Recently, folks in the Discord uncovered this recent post from J.D. Greear. It’s a response to Megan Basham, who just published a book called Shepherds for Sale. This book claims that right-wing leaders like J.D. Greear are totally secretly taking bribes from deep-pocketed Democratic agents to soften their culture-war stances. In fact, she calls him out repeatedly in her book, so I can’t blame him for writing a response!
J.D. Greear is one of the big names in the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC’s) Pretend Progressive faction. He is in no way liberal or even a softie on the culture wars. His doctrinal stances are identical to those of the hardliners. He’s just as terrible a person, too, with just as terrible a position on human rights as his enemies. He just knows to simper and Jesus-smile as he grabs at what ain’t his, while the Old Guard dudes just snarl and snap as they grab.
(Hi! I’m still sick – spent the whole weekend laid up. I’m still not able to sit up and work. I’m hoping this terrible cough goes away soon. I can put up with just about anything, but the coughing is just terrible. I’m about as medicated as someone can get, so please don’t worry about me. Between Mr. Captain and Nurse Botherlet, I’m in good hands.)
(This post went live on Patreon on 8/27/2024.)
I love watching them fight
Nobody who reads my work would likely ever think I’m a J.D. Greear fan. So it rankles me mightily that I have to take his side regarding Basham’s attempt at agitprop. That’s all it is, just the hardliners attacking their tribalistic enemies yet again. The SBC creeps closer and closer to schism with every new battle. This book represents just one of those battles. There will be more to come.
Still, there’s something poetic about watching these two nearly identical factions of hardliners squabble. I know why it’s happening. The hardliners want to remake the SBC into an even-more-ruthlessly-draconian bunch of dysfunctional authoritarians, while the Pretend Progressives are aware of just how many SBC-lings they’d chase off doing that so they’re trying to thread the tiniest of all needles here. You can even see Greear doing that in his essay toward the end:
Jesus led with relationship and grace, even as he spoke unflinchingly about truth. For Basham (and many in her tribe), it seems that if you position yourself that way—as a missionary seeking to win people rather than a culture warrior championing Republican politicians—then you are a liberal, no matter what you believe or how clearly you state it.
Like so many hardliners in evangelicalism, Greear is still convinced that there’s a magical way for evangelicals to stand against human rights that won’t alienate potential recruits or offend their current members. Alas for these evangelicals, there isn’t, but at least it’ll get his faction SBC-lings’ votes.
Remember: Whoever wins this fight, they all lose.
Oh, and a little tip to fearmongers like Megan Basham: I only wish Democrats had the kind of power, money, and influence she imagines. If Democrats did even a tenth of the things the Christian Right imagines in their jerkoff sessions, we’d never have had a Donald Trump to worry about in the first place. He’d have just stayed a conjob real estate loser and reality-TV showman. And the Religious Right would be way more culturally irrelevant.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully I’ll be back in the saddle soon.
NEXT UP: Oooh, the “Bad Christians” are apparently out wrecking evangelicals’ image again!
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